Tata-owned Air India is on a path to changing how the airline operates. As a part of this change, the airline has made multiple changes in its operations, including the expansion of the domestic flight network. However, as part of this change, Air India has also removed some of the unprofitable routes from its domestic flight network, as per Business Standard’s report. The move comes as a major change to improve the business of the airline. Meanwhile, the presence of the airline on metro-to-metro is increased.
The routes now eliminated from Air India’s domestic flights affect multiple states in India. The eliminated routes include Delhi-Ranchi, Delhi-Raipur, Delhi-Nagpur, Aizawl-Imphal, Bhopal-Pune, Kolkata-Dibrugarh, Kolkata-Dimapur, and Kolkata-Jaipur, as per Business Standard’s report.
Low demand was a problem for Air India in many of these sectors, and fierce rivalry prevented it from turning a profit in others. The article cites Cirium’s data to remark that in June, Air India operated 14 weekly flights that competed with IndiGo’s 58 and Go First’s 14 on the Delhi-Nagpur route. Similar circumstances applied on the Delhi-Raipur route, where Air India operated 14 flights each week as opposed to 62 for IndiGo and 28 for Vistara.
As a result of these modifications, it has boosted frequency on a number of important airport routes, including Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Hyderabad-Mumbai, reports Business Standard.
A representative from Air India added that the carrier is benefiting from metro routes because it is simpler to fill up the premium cabins on these sectors. Other routes that have seen a boost in frequency under its new CEO, Campbell Wilson, including Delhi-Amritsar, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Pune, and Kolkata-Guwahati. Besides, the airline is working on expanding its international routes as well. The Indian carrier has revived its multiple routes to Europe and multiple cities in the USA.
